THERE will be no more rough house tactics by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB), newly appointed Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng promised.

“This government promises there will be no more office raids accompanied by people with guns.

“There will be no more rough tactics. Such tactics will only be used against the real bad people like Jho Low,” said Lim at the National Tax Conference at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre today.

He said there were sufficient laws in the country to check the tax evaders and such rough tactics were unnecessary.

The Pakatan Harapan minister said that IRB is also reviewing its procedures.

“IRB will go back to the rule of law and you should comply with the law too and pay your taxes,” he joked.

Lim said taxpayers should discuss a plan to pay their tax with IRB.

“You still have to pay your taxes because the government needs money for development and operations,” said Lim.

“But I believe when the public has confidence in IRB, they will pay their taxes. Trust this government as you have elected us to use taxes properly,” said Lim.

He said the previous government had abused collected taxes to pay for overpriced projects and the 1MDB scandal.

Meanwhile, Lim is expecting the sales and services tax (SST) law to be passed in Parliament during the current sitting.

Today, MPs were sworn in at Parliament today. The sitting began today and ends on August 16.

“The sales tax will be set at 10% while the services tax will be at 6%, similar to the past. We hope to begin collecting SST on September 1,” said Lim.

He said the government is targeting to collect RM4 billion in SST this year. – July 16, 2018.